Really poor way to handle things
Lavarock7:
Quote from: LTN1 on June 23, 2016, 12:43:23 pm
Quote from: PeterK on June 23, 2016, 12:24:52 pm
OMG no kidding this was a REALLY bad way of handling things. My phone just stopped working this morning and I had no clue why. When I went to Obitalk I saw that my device is not up to date for Google Voice. That's it. No explanation of how to correct it except to say I can pay $10 for service!!!
Needless to say I was outraged. i have never seen a hardware company make you pay for a firmware update. Not cool ObiHai, not cool at all.
THANK YOU SteveInWA for the link and instructions. Took all of 2 minutes to complete and now my device works again!
I don't know of any major computer hardware company (Dell, HP, etc.) that will continue to provide automatic updates to their customers after the warranty has expired--without some sort of extended warranty program. The same with software companies like Microsoft--once the warranty period is over, they stop the automatic updates.
OK, I have to chime in here with a little known item I heard when I worked for HP.
When HP first came up with a handheld calculator, it was a big success. Many years later people would drop them, leave them on their car and drive off, eventually breaking them. They would contact and send them to HP for repair and often those repairs were free, even though their warranty was long expired.
As the saying went, "Here is the rest of the story".
HP was created, owned and staffed by engineers. When these calculators became popular, there were many sales. Engineers do not worry about warranties, and the story is, that it cost a lot for HP at the time to keep track of when people were buying these and when the warranty would expire, then to just fix them. The good will helped sales and the public thought it was good will perhaps in stead of the engineers having no clue of paperwork :-)
Sometimes good will does trump warranty.
Joe903:
Thanks, SteveInWA! We truly appreciate the effort you take to keep us running!
- Joe (also in WA)
LTN1:
Quote from: Lavarock7 on June 23, 2016, 07:53:30 pm
OK, I have to chime in here with a little known item I heard when I worked for HP.
When HP first came up with a handheld calculator, it was a big success. Many years later people would drop them, leave them on their car and drive off, eventually breaking them. They would contact and send them to HP for repair and often those repairs were free, even though their warranty was long expired.
As the saying went, "Here is the rest of the story".
HP was created, owned and staffed by engineers. When these calculators became popular, there were many sales. Engineers do not worry about warranties, and the story is, that it cost a lot for HP at the time to keep track of when people were buying these and when the warranty would expire, then to just fix them. The good will helped sales and the public thought it was good will perhaps in stead of the engineers having no clue of paperwork :-)
Sometimes good will does trump warranty.
If that HP culture still exists and will fix an out of warranty laptop that I dropped a year ago (with a cracked screen), please let me know which representative to speak with. All the ones I spoke with required that I purchase the HP Out of Warranty Support (described here: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/support-drivers/total-care/out-of-warranty.html). It will cost more to fix than if I were to buy a new comparable level laptop. Don't even get me to complain about my smartphones. I've got plenty with cracked screens, black screens and out of warranty...and neither Samsung or Apple are willing to fix it unless I pay. The cracked screens I accept as my fault...however, the black screens really hurt--especially right after the warranty period. In the end, it was my risk in not buying the extended warranties. No one to blame but me...though I am still irked about the black screen.
Perhaps there was a time where companies gave lifetime warranties. Those days are very rare now...since part of their corporate income comes from service and extended warranty sales.
RFC3261:
Quote from: Lavarock7 on June 23, 2016, 07:53:30 pm
HP was created, owned and staffed by engineers.
And that HP no longer exists. I mean, there are many good engineers there, and the products they produce can be top notch, but the culture at the top is (alas) no more. One can discuss as to whether the changes were inevitable, or necessary. One can also discuss whether those changes were made in the right places at the right time and will produce the results that will be positive for the company. But the "HP Way" is gone.
Kendsie:
Strong arm robbing folks, will NOT get you very much success in the long run!
Now, i have to go and repair all my friends phones that I suggested get a Obi box.
MAKE THE UPDATE SIMPLE or you will loose many customers!!!
Why in the world would you not?
And quit making excuses why you want to rip people off!
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